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(CNN)When Liha Okunniwa and Abi Oyepitan met at university in 1998, they bonded over swapping beauty tips for "natural hair" and African skin. Back then, bloggers such as Black Girl Long Hair and Afrobella, encouraging women with Afro-textured hair to boycott chemical or heat straightening products, or YouTube videos dedicated to African beauty, didn't exist.

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No products for your hair type? Make your own

No products for your hair type? Make your ownhttp://whatismyskintone.net/no-products-for-your-hair-type-make-your-own/

(CNN)When Liha Okunniwa and Abi Oyepitan met at university in 1998, they bonded over swapping beauty tips for "natural hair" and African skin. Back then, bloggers such as Black Girl Long Hair and Afrobella, encouraging women with Afro-textured hair to boycott chemical or heat straightening products, or YouTube videos dedicated to African beauty, didn't exist.

(CNN)When Liha Okunniwa and Abi Oyepitan met at university in 1998, they bonded over swapping beauty tips for “natural hair” and African skin.

Back then, bloggers such as Black Girl Long Hair and Afrobella, encouraging women with Afro-textured hair to boycott chemical or heat straightening products, or YouTube videos dedicated to African beauty, didn’t exist.

And so Oyepitan — a future Olympic sprint runner for England — and Okunniwa began creating their own moisturizers from Shea butter, and making African black soap, using plantain, cocoa pods and palm tree leaves.

“We are super inspired by the diaspora and ancient Yoruba culture, which is why we put the image of Queen Idia [The First Queen Mother of Benin] on our candles,” says Oyepitan, who grew up in Nigeria; Okunniwa made frequent visits to the West African nation growing up.

“No matter where the Yoruba culture has traveled, there has been a wellspring of beauty, creativity, music and ideas whether that’s in Cuba, Brazil or New Orleans. We want everyone to know about the Yoruba beauty secrets, too.”

Who are Abi and Liha?

Social media has played a large role in the success of the Liha brand — @lihabeauty has nearly 2,000 followers on the image-sharing platform.